State super vias et videte et interrogate de semitis antiquis quae sit via bona et ambulate in ea et invenietis refrigerium animabus vestris

30 Nov 2022

Desiring Salvation

Ἐπεπόθησα τὸ σωτήριόν σου Κύριε καὶ ὁ νόμος σου μελέτη μού ἐστιν.

Οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιποθοῦσι σωτηρίαν, ἀλλ' οὐ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὸ σαρκὸς σωτήριον τὸ ἐν κόσμῳ. Ἔργον δέ ἐστιν ἐπιποθῆσαι τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ Σωτήριον, ὥστε ἐν Θεῷ σωθῆναι, ἐν αὐτῷ ἀναπαύεσθαι, κληρονομῆναι τὰ ἅγια· τὸ γὰρ Σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή. Ἐὰν θέλῃς ἐπαναβῆναι τῷ λόγῳ, τὸ Σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν· Ἰησοῦς γὰρ ἐρμηνεύεται, Θεοῦ σωτηρία. Οὕτος ἡμῖν ἐπέμφθη. Ὁδὸς τοῦ ἐπιποθοῦντες τὸ Σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὸ τὸν νόμον εἶναι μελέτην τῷ ἐπιποθοῦντι, προαναφωνοῦντα τὴν δεῦρο αὐτοῦ ἄφιξιν. Νόμον δὲ ἐνταῦθα καλεῖ πᾶσαν τὴν παλαιὰν καὶ θείαν Γραφήν.

Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους ψαλμους, ψαλμος ΡΙΗ'

Source: Migne PG 23.1394c-d
I desired your salvation, O Lord, and your Law is my care. 1

Many men desire salvation, but not the salvation of God, but the salvation of the flesh, which is in the world. It is a labour to desire the salvation of God, that we be saved in God, resting in Him, in Him inheriting holy things, for the salvation of God is eternal life. If you wish to have a higher understanding here, the salvation of God is Christ, for the interpretation of the name of Jesus is the salvation of God. The One who was sent to us. The way of desiring the salvation of God is the desire for care for the Law, which foretells His coming to us. This here is what he calls the Law: the whole of the old Divine scriptures.

Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 118

1 Ps 118.174

29 Nov 2022

Wisdom And The Right And The Left

Mῆκος γὰρ βίου καὶ ἔτη ζωῆς ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτῆς ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀριστερᾷ αὐτῆς πλοῦτος καὶ δόξα

Δεξιὰ αὐτῆς, ἡ τῶν θείων ἐπιστήμη, ἐξ ὧν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή· ἀριστερα δὲ, ἡ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων γνῶσις.

Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Παροιμιας

Source: Migne PG 39.1625c
Wisdom holds out long life in her right hand, and in her left riches and glory. 1

The right hand is the knowlege of Divine things, from which there is eternal life; the left hand is the knowledge of human things.

Didymus the Blind, On Proverbs, fragment

1 Prov 3.16

28 Nov 2022

Salvation And Hell

Πέμπων ἐπὶ τὸν κόσμον εὐαγγελίσασθαι τοὺς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀνθρώπους, γινώσκειν ὅτι εἷς θεός ἐστιν, διὰ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ πίστεως ἐμῆς δηλοῦντας τὰ μέλλοντα, ὅπως οἱ ἀκούσαντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες σωθῶσιν, οἱ δὲ μὴ πιστεύσαντες ἀκούσαντες μαρτυρήσωσιν, οὐκ ἔχοντες ἀπολογίαν εἰπεῖν· οὐκ ἠκούσαμεν. Tί οὖν; οὐχὶ καὶ ἐν Ἅιδου ἡ αὐτὴ γέγονεν οἰκονομία; ἵνα κἀκεῖ πᾶσαι αἱ ψυχαὶ ἀκούσασαι τοῦ κηρύγματος ἢ τὴν μετάνοιαν ἐνδείξωνται ἢ τὴν κόλασιν δικαίαν εἶναι, δι' ὧν οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν, ὁμολογήσωσιν. Ἦν δ' ἂν πλεονεξίας οὐ τῆς τυχούσης ἔργον τοὺς προεξεληλυθότας τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Kυρίου, μὴ εὐηγγελισμένους μηδὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν τὴν αἰτίαν παρασχομένους κατὰ τὸ πιστεῦσαι ἢ μή, ἤτοι τῆς σωτηρίας ἢ τῆς κολάσεως μετασχεῖν. Oὐ γάρ που θέμις τοὺς μὲν ἀκρίτως καταδεδικάσθαι, μόνους δὲ τοὺς μετὰ τὴν παρουσίαν τῆς θείας ἀπολελαυκέναι δικαιοσύνης. πάσαις δ' ἄνωθεν ταῖς ψυχαῖς εἴρηται ταῖς λογικαῖς· ὅσα ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ τις ὑμῶν ἐποίησεν μὴ εἰδὼς σαφῶς τὸν θεόν, ἐὰν ἐπιγνοὺς μετανοήσῃ, πάντα αὐτῷ ἀφεθήσεται τὰ ἁμαρτήματα. Ἰδοὺ γάρ· φησί, τέθεικα πρὸ προσώπου ὑμῶν τὸν θάνατον καὶ τὴν ζωήν, ἐκλέξασθαι τὴν ζωήν, πρὸς σύγκρισιν ἐκλογῆς τεθεῖσθαι λέγων ὁ θεός, οὐ πεποιηκέναι ἄμφω. καὶ ἐν ἑτέρᾳ γραφῇ λέγει· ἐὰν ἀκούσητέ μου καὶ θελήσητε, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀκούσητέ μου μηδὲ θελήσητε, μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται· τὸ γὰρ στόμα Kυρίου ἐλάλησεν ταῦτα. Πάλιν δὲ ἄντικρυς ὁ Δαβίδ, μᾶλλον δὲ ὁ Kύριος ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ ὁσίου εἷς δὲ οὗτος ἐκ καταβολῆς κόσμου, πᾶς ὁ διαφόροις χρόνοις διὰ πίστεως σωθείς τε καὶ σωθησόμενος· ηὐφράνθη μου ἡ καρδία καὶ ἠγαλλιάσατο ἡ γλῶσσά μου. ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡ σάρξ μου κατασκηνώσει ἐπ' ἐλπίδι, φησίν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς Ἅιδην οὐδὲ δώσεις τὸν ὅσιόν σου ἰδεῖν διαφθοράν. ἐγνώρισάς μοι ὁδοὺς ζωῆς· πληρώσεις με εὐφροσύνης μετὰ τοῦ προσώπου σου.

Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Στρωματεων, Λογος Ϛ', Κεφ Ϛ'

Source: Migne PG 9.269c-272c
He sent the Apostles into the world, preaching to the men dwelling there, that they know there is one God, showing clearly what would come by the faith of Christ, that hearing and having faith they might be saved, and that those who do not have faith, after hearing, bear witness to this, not having any excuse to say, 'We did not hear.' What then? Was there not the same arrangement in Hell, that there all the souls, hearing the preaching, either declared their repentance, or that their punishment was just because they had no faith? And this was not the work of chance, for those who departed before the advent of the Lord, not being evangelised, provided no cause from themselves, for believing or not, to partake of either salvation or punishment. For it is not at all right that they should be condemned without trial and that only those who lived after the advent should benefit by the Divine righteousness. But from above it was said to all rational souls, 'Whatever one of you has done in ignorance, without clearly knowing God, if, becoming conscious, he repent, all sin will be forgiven him.' 'For, behold,' it is said, 'I have set before your face death and life, that you may choose life.' 1 And for the judgement of choice God says that He set them forth, not that he had made both. And in another passage He says, 'If you hear Me, and are willing, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you do not hear me and are not willing, the sword shall devour you, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.' 2 Again, David says openly, or rather the Lord in the person of the holy one, and everyone from the foundation of the world who at different times is saved through faith and shall be saved, 'My heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced, and my flesh shall yet rest in hope. For You shall not leave my soul in hell, nor will You give Your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life, You will fill me with joy in Your presence.' 3

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 6, Chap 6

1 Deut 30. 15,19
2 Isaiah 1:19-20
3 Ps 6, 9,10,11, Acts 2 26,27,28

27 Nov 2022

Resting In Peace

Ἐν δὲ ἀναπαύσει ᾅδου ἐκοιμήθησαν.

Ἐν δὲ ἀναπαύσει οὐκ οὐρανοῦ, ἀλλ' ᾅδου ἐκοιμήθησαν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ εὐχόμεθα οὐκ ἐν ἀναπαύσει ᾅδου κοιμηθῆναι, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀναπαύσει Θεοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς τοῖς ἁγίοις μετὰ Χριστοῦ βασιλεύοντος ἡμῶν.

Ὠριγένης, Εἰς Τον Ιὠβ

Source: Migne PG 17.80b

They rest in hell in peace. 1

But not in the peace of heaven, for they rest in hell. We pray that we not be at peace resting in hell, but in the peace of God, in the heavens with the saints and with Christ our king.

Origen, On Job, Fragment

1 Job 13.13

26 Nov 2022

Signs And Places

Αποστραφήτωσαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ εἰς τὸν ᾅδην πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τὰ ἐπιλανθανόμενα τοῦ θεοῦ.

̓Αποστραφήτωσαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί, οἱ πολεμίων δίκην ἐπιτιθέμενοι, εἰς τὸν ᾅδην. ἑρμηνεύων δὲ τίνες οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί, ἐπήγαγεν ὡς τὰ ἐπιλανθανόμενα ἔθνη τοῦ θεοῦ εἰσιν. ἁμαρτωλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἔθνη οὐκ ἀνθρώπους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀσάρκους δυνάμεις ἐκλαβεῖν δεῖ. εἰ γὰρ μὴ σημαίνει οὐσίαν ἀλλὰ ποιὸν ἡ ἁμαρτωλὸς φωνή, παρωνυμία οὐσα ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, πάντα τὸν μετέχοντα ἁμαρτίας οὕτως ὀνομαστέον. Kαταλλήλως τούτοις καὶ τὰ ἔθνη ἐκλήψει. ὥσπερ δὲ οὐκ ὤν τις ἐν οὐρανῷ τοπικῶς, ἔτι ἐπὶ γῆς περιπατῶν, δύναται ἐκεῖ πολιτείᾳ καὶ νοήσει τυγχάνειν, οὕτω μὴ διατρίβων τις ἐν ᾅδῃ τοπικῶς δύναται σημεῖα φέρειν νεκρότητος καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν, ὡς οἰκεῖν αὐτὸν τὸν ᾅδην ἥδη καίτοι ὄντα ἐν τῇ μετὰ σώματος ζωῇ.

Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμος Θ'

Source: Migne PG 39.1197a-b
Sinners are turned to hell, all the peoples who are not mindful of God. 1

Sinners are turned, in the likeness of a horde, to hell, So saying that they are 'sinnners', he goes on then to speak of 'peoples', and not only men should be understood here but also immaterial powers. For if the word 'sinner' does not signify substance but quality, which name is derived from 'sin', in like manner you should think 'peoples' to be named. And as he who is not yet placed in the heavens because he yet walks on the earth, yet by his conduct and thought may be there, so he who is not yet established in the infernal places is able to bear signs of his death and wickedness, as if he even now dwelt in hell, even if he yet lives in the body. 2

Didymus the Blind, Commentary on The Psalms, from Psalm 9

1 Ps 9.18
2 cf Philip 3.19-20

25 Nov 2022

Foolish Labour

Kαὶ πᾶς ὁ ἀκούων μου τοὺς λόγους τούτους καὶ μὴ ποιῶν αὐτοὺς ὁμοιωθήσεται ἀνδρὶ μωρῷ, ὅστις ᾠκοδόμησεν αὐτοῦ τὴν οἰκίαν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄμμον.

Καλῶς δὲ μωρὸν ἐκάλεσε τοῦτον. Τί γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο ἀνοητότερον τοῦ οἰκίαν οἰκοδομοῦντος ἐπὶ ψάμμου, καὶ τὸν μὲν πόνον ὑπομένοντος, τοῦ δὲ καρποῦ καὶ τῆς ἀναπαύσεως ἀποστερουμένου, καὶ ἀντι τούτου κόλασιν ὑπομένοντος; ὅτι γὰρ καὶ οἱ κακίαν μετιόντες κάμνουσι, παντί που δῆλόν ἐστιν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τῶν πόνων τούτων καρποῦνται κέρδος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὴν ὑπομένουσι τὴν ζημίαν· ὡς γάρ φησιν ὁ Παῦλος, Ὁ σπείρων ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ, ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς θερίσει φθοράν.

Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Ἐξὴγησις Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ματθαιον Εὐάγγελιον

Source: Migne PG 72.388c
But whoever hears these commandments of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand... 1

And rightly is he called a fool. For what can be more mad than to build a house on sand, which labour having undergone one gains no reward or rest, but rather one suffers punishment? For to everyone it is clear that even those who partake of wickedness grow weary, yet they profit not at all by their toil, but suffer much harm. As Paul says, 'Those who sow in the flesh, shall reap the corruption of the flesh.' 2

Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Fragment

1 Mt 7.26
2 Galat 6.8

24 Nov 2022

Differing Generations

Vae genti insurgenti super genus meum: Dominus enim omnipotens vindicabit in eis.

Genus suum dicit viros cultores Dei, de quo in Psalmo scriptum est Haec est generatio quaerentium Dominum requirentium faciem Dei Jacob. Et contrario est illa generatio, hoc est, prava et perversa, de qua Dominus in Evangelio ait: Ecce ego mitto ad vos prophetas et sapientes et scribas. Ex illis occidetis et crucifigetis, et ex eis flagellabitis in synagogis, et persequemini de civitate in civitatem, ut veniat super vos omnis sanguis justus, qui effusus est super terram, a sanguine Abel justi usque ad sanguinem Zachariae filii Barachiae, quem occidistis intra templum et altare. Amen dico vobis, venient haec omnia super generationem istam. Huic ergo generationi vae erit perpetuum, quia sine ullo fine aeternum illi manet tormentum, justo judice sibi recte retribuente, quae illa antea malitiose in proximos suos egerat; unde subjungitur

In die judicii visitabit illos.

Visitabit utqiue illos, non ut superna cum sanctis mercede coronet, sed ut cum diabolo et angelis ejus perpetuis poenis excruciet in inferno.

Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput XVI

Source: Migne PL 109.586d-587a
Woe to the people who rise up against my people, for the almighty Lord shall be revenged upon them. 1

His people are those who revere God, concerning which it is written in the Psalm: 'This is the generation of the seekers of the Lord, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.' 2 And on the contrary there is another generation, that is, one which is depraved and perverse, concerning which the Lord says in His Gospel: 'Behold, I sent the prophets to you, and wise men, and scribes, and some of these you killed and some you crucified and some you whipped in your gatherings, and you pursued them from city to city, so that upon you shall come the blood of the righteous man, which has been poured out on the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel, even to Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you slew between the temple and the altar. Amen, I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.' 3 Therefore to this generation will come eternal woe, because their eternal torments shall be without end, when they are rightly punished by the righteous judge, they who have worked wickedness against their neighbours, whence it then continues:

On the day of judgement it shall be visited upon them.

It shall be visited upon them that they are not crowned with supernal reward with the saints, but they are tormented with the devil and his angels by perpetual punishments in hell.

Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chap 16

1 Judith 16.17
2 Ps 23.5
3 Mt 23.34-36

23 Nov 2022

The Cave And The Stone

Erat inquit spelunca. Dixisse suffecerat venisse ad monumentum; quid est quod tantopere speluncam Evangelista commemorat? Speluna plane, ubi hominem diaboli latrocinium collocavit; spelunca, ubi virum fraus condidit mulieris; spelunca, ubi Dei plasma mortia rapacitas includebat. Et lapis superpositus erat ei. Durae mortis janua durior durissimo lapide claudebatur: sed plorans quid proficit ad sepulcrum, quando sic duros et congestos obices non penetrat vox plorantis? Christiani, ploremus Deo pro peccatis nostris, et, mortuis non audientibus, cum gentibus non ploremus. Ait Jesus, tollite lapidem. Inter divinas virtutes humanum Christus requirit auxillium? Non sufficit amovere lapidem, qui mortem sufficit effugare? Sepulcri claustra reserare non valet, qui portas Tartari praevalet aperire? Dixerat per prophetam: Auferam cor lapideum de carne eorum, et dabo eis cor carneum; praecipit ergo ut Judaei ex e cor lapideum tollant, evolvant perfidiae saxum, silicem durae incredulitatis excludant, quatenus animae per infidelitatem mortuae de sepulcro pectoris prosilirent: et non tantum surrexisse Lazarum, quantum se Lazaro consurrexisse gauderent. Tollite lapidem. Tollite miserae humanitatis obsequium, ut divinitatis beatae opera nunc claresceant. Tollite lapidem. Quem posuistis vos, ut hominem quem ego posui, nunc reponam.

Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo LXV, De Lazaro a mortuis suscitato

Source: Migne PL 52.382b-383a
'It was a cave,' 1

He says. It would have sufficed for him to have said that He came to the tomb. Why does the Evangelist wish to stress the cave? Certainly a cave is where the devil's theft deposited man, a cave is where the deceit of a woman laid up man, where death's rapacity enclosed the image of God. And a stone had been placed before it. The door of hard death was shut harder yet by a very hard stone. What profits weeping at a tomb when the voice of the one who weeps does not penetrate such hard and dense barriers? Christians, let us weep for our sins before God, let us not weep with the Gentiles before the dead who do not hear us. Jesus said: 'Remove the stone'. With His Divine powers Christ requires human help? He cannot move the stone who was able to put death to flight? He is not able to unfasten the barrier who has able to open the the gates of Tartarus? He said through the prophet: 'I shall remove their heart of stone, and I shall give them a heart of flesh,' 2 therefore He ordered the Jews to take their heart of stone from themselves, that they roll back the rock of faithlessness, that they push aside the flint of hard disbelief, so that their souls, dead through the lack of faith, might spring forth from the tomb of the heart, and that they might rejoice not so much that Lazarus had risen, but that they had risen with Lazarus. 'Remove the stone.' Remove the servitude of wretched humanity so that the works of blessed Divinity might now shine forth. 'Remove the stone,' that you have put in place so that I may now restore the man whom I established.

Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 65, On The Raising of Lazarus from the Dead

1 Jn 11.38
2 Ezek 36.26

22 Nov 2022

Various Resurrections

Ἐκπορεύσονται οἱ τὰ ἀγαθὰ ποιήσαντες, εἰς ἀνάστασιν ζωῆς· οἱ δὲ τὰ φαῦλα πράξαντες, εἰς ἀνάστασιν κρίσεως.

Τῶν ἀνθρώπων διῃρημένων κατὰ τὴν γνώμην εἰς ἀσεβεῖς ἢτοι ἀπίστους, καὶ εἰς εὐσεβεῖς ἤτοι πιστοὺς, οἱ αὐτοὶ πάντων ἀνισταμένων ἀνθρώπων, ἤγουν ἄπιστοι καὶ ἀσεβεῖς ἀνίστανται μὲν, οὐκ εἰς κρίσιν δὲ, τῷ ἤδη κεκρίσθαι τὸν μὴ πιστεύσαντα. Εἰσὶ δὲ οἱ πιστεύσαντες τῷ Σωτῆρι, καὶ πρὸς τούτῳ καὶ ἔργα πεποιηκότες ἀγαθὰ, οἵτινες ἀνίστανται εἰς ἀνάστασιν ζωῆς, οὐ κριθησόμενοι· τῶν μετὰ τὸ πιστεῦσαι ἠμαρτηκότων εἰς κρίτιν ἐγειρομένων. Τὴν δὲ τῶν βρεφῶν κατάστασιν, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὰ ἀνίστανται, Θεὸς μόνος οἴδεν τάχα, καὶ ὦν ἡ ἀποκάλυψωις τῆς περὶ τούτου ἀληθείας γεγένηται.

Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ἰωαννην Εὐαγγελιον

Source: Migne PG 39.1645c-1648a
So those who have done good come forth to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement. 1

According to this passage men are divided into the impious or faithless, and into the pious or faithful, and yet in the raising of all men the faithless and impious are not raised to judgement, since those who do not believe are already judged. 2 But those who have believed in the Saviour and with this have done good works, they rise to the resurrection of life, and not to condemnation, and then besides these, they who have sinned after they have believed, they rise to damnation. Now of the state of infants, how they shall be raised, perhaps God only knows, or those to whom the truth of this has been revealed.

Didymus the Blind, On The Gospel Of St John, Fragment

1 Jn 5.29
2 Jn 3.18

21 Nov 2022

Strict Judgements

Οὐκ ἀπονοίας ἐστιν, ὦ φιλολογώτατε, ὁ κατὰ τῶν πταισάντων φόνος τοῦ σοφωτάτου Πέτρου, ἀλλὰ διδασκαλίας προγνωστικῆς, τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων προϊωμένης ἁμαρτήματα. Τότε γὰρ ἀρξάμενοι τὰ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου καταβάλλεσθαι σπέρματα· καὶ εὐθὺς παρανατείλαντα ἐωρακότες ζιζάνια, σοφῶς αὐτὰ παραχρῆμα ἐξέτιλαν, ἵνα μὴ τῷ σιωῷ συναυξνθέντα, τῷ μέλλοντι πρὸς καῦσιν πυρὶ φυλαχθῇ. Οὔτω καὶ Μωσῆς ὁ θεσπέσιος τὰ τοῦ νόμου ἐκ προοιμίων παραβαθέντα θεώμενος, εἰ καὶ ἐπὶ βραχεῖ ἁμαρτὴματι καταλευσθῆναι ἐν σαββάτῳ ξυλολογοῦντα ἐκέλευσε, τοῦτο Θεὸν γεγραφὼς ἀποφήνασθαι. Ἐπὶ μικρῷ γὰρ καὶ μείζονι ἡ παραβασις κρίνεται. Ὡς καὶ οἱ πρῶτοι τοῦ γένους προπάτοες ξύλου γεύσει τὸν πολυώδυνον κατεδικάσθησαν καὶ βίον καὶ θάνατον

Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΡΠΑ´ Ὠριονι Μονακῳ

Source: Migne PG 78.300c
Not without sense, most learned man, against those who erred came death from the most wise Peter, 1 but it is a prescient teaching, foreseeing the many sins of men. For then when they began to throw forth the seed of the Gospel, instantly perceiving the weeds born, with wise counsel they swiftly tore them up, lest one of them growing with the wheat be protected against future fire. 2 In the same way the saintly Moses, considering violations of the law, even for a small error, such as the gathering of sticks on the Sabbath, nevertheless commanded stoning, and in this revealed God, that transgressions in both little things and great are judged. So even the first of our race, tasting the fruit of the tree, were condemned to a most bitter life and death.

Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 181, To the Monk Orion

1 Acts 5.5-10
2 Mt 13.25

20 Nov 2022

A Fire That Does Not Burn

Κατέδεται αὐτὸν πῦρ ἄκαυστον...

Μυστήριον τι μανθάνομεν περὶ τῆς κολάσεως τῆς ἀποκείμένης, ἵνα φυλασσώμεθα αὐτὴν παθεῖν. Πῦρ εἶπεν ἄkαυστον κατέδεσθαι τὸν ἀσεβῆ· τοῦτο τὸ πῦρ· τὸ παρ' ἡμῖν ὑλκὸν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄκαυστον πῦρ· βλεπόμενον γὰρ αὐτό. Ἐκεῖϝο δὲ ἀόρατόν ἐστι τὸ πῦρ, τὸ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἐρχόμενον, ὃ ἔνδον αὐτοὺς καίει. Νοητόν ἐστι καὶ κολάζον. Ἐὰν θέλῃς εἰκόνα παραλαβεῖν ἐκείνου τοῦ πυρὸς, νόει μοι τὸν εἰς ὑπερβολὴν πυρέσσοντα, καὶ ὐπὸ πυρὸς φλεγόμενον. Οὐχ εὑρήσεις ὄψει τὸ πῦρ ἐν αὐτῷ, ὑπόκειται δὲ, καὶ ἐκκαίει αὐτοῦ τὰ σπλάψχνα. Οὕτως ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων πυρέττων τις ἐkkαίεται.

Ὠριγένης, Εἰς Τον Ιὠβ

Source: Migne PG 17.76a-b

A fire that does not burn shall consume him... 1

Here we learn about a mystery of punishment which awaits, so that we might guard ourselves against suffering it. He speaks of the fire that does not burn which shall devour the impious man. Here fire is a material thing to us, and it is not a fire that does not burn, for so we observe it. But that fire which is immaterial enters into the sinful, and it blazes up within them. This punishment is intellectual. If you wish to have an image of that fire, think of a man who is gravely afflicted with a fever, blazing up with a fire. You shall not find an observable fire in him, however it is within, and it sets his insides on fire. Likewise because of his sins a man is set on fire as if by a fever.

Origen, On Job, Fragment

1 Job 20.26

19 Nov 2022

The Well Of Death

Tu vero, Deus, deduces eos in puteum interitus...

Quia dixit de justis, nunc dicit de impiis, qui in gehennae profunditatem mergendi sunt. Puteus quidem dicitur hiatus patens, in terrae sinibus excavaus, aquas continens humanis usibus attributas. Sed ne hunc puteum vitalem intelligere potuisses, addidit, interitus: de quo alio in loco legitur: Neque aperiat super me puteus os suum. Fovea mortalis, mersura terribilis, ubi nec spatium ullum conceditur, nec ipsa miseris respiramenta praestantar; sed obscuritas tenebrosa circumdans, amoeni luminis tollit aspectum. Ex putei siquidem similitudine, gehennae tormenta nos admonet formidare. O pietas inaudita judicantis! totum hominibus praedicitur, ut culpa plectibilis evitetur.

Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus LIV

Source: Migne PL 70.392c
But you, God, shall lead them into the well of death... 1

Because he has spoken of the righteous, he now speaks of the impious, they who have been sunk into the depths of hell. Certainly a well is spoken of as open hole dug into the lower places of the earth, which contains water for human use. But lest this well be understood to be one which gives life, he adds, 'of death.' Concerning which in another place it reads: 'Let him not open over me the well of his mouth.' 2 It is a fatal pit, a terrible drowning, where there is no relief given to anyone, nor are the wretched allowed a breath, but thick darkness surrounds, the sight of pleasant light having been stripped away. By this likeness of a well he warns us to fear the torments of hell. O unheard piety of the judge, preached to all men, that blows for wickedness might be avoided.

Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, Psalm 54

1 Ps 54.24
2 Ps 68.16

18 Nov 2022

Leaven And The Dead

Τίνι ὁμοιώσω τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ; ὁμοία ἐστὶν ζύμῃ, ἣν λαβοῦσα γυνὴ ἐνέκρυψεν εἰς ἀλεύρου σάτα τρία, ἕως οὗ ἐζυμώθη ὅλον.

Τοῦτο οὖν σκόπει, πᾶς τις ὁ τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν ἀμφισβητῶν, ὅτιπερ ἔκαστος, τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁ μικρὰν ζύμην ἀρετῆς κτησάμενος, μὴ πεφθακὼς δὲ ταύτην ἀρτοποιῆσαι· ἀλλὰ βουληθεὶς μὲν, μὴ δυνηθεὶς δὲ τοῦτο, ἢ ῥᾳθυμίας ἢ ἀμελείας ἢ ἀναδρίας ἔνεκα καὶ τῆς ἐξ ἡμέρας εἰς ἡμεραν ἀναβολῆς· ἐπιφθασθεὶς δὲ καὶ θερισθεὶς παρ' ἐλπίδα, οὗτος οὐκ ἐπιλησθήσεται παρὰ τοῦ δικαίου κριτοῦ· ἀλλ' ἐγερεῖ αὐτῷ μετὰ θάνατον τοὺς οἰκείους, καὶ τούτων τὰς γνώμας ἱθυνεῖ, καὶ τὰς καρδίας ἐλκύσει, καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ἐπικάμψει, καὶ πρὸς ἀρωγὴν καὶ βοήθειαν τούτου σπεύσουσι κινηθέντες. Ὅθεν καὶ ἁψαμένου τοῦ Δεσπότου τῶν καρδιῶν αὐτῶν, ἀναπληρώσουσι τοῦ οἰχομένου τὰ ὑστερήματα. Ὁ δέ γε βίον πονηερὸν κεκτημένος, συμπεφυρμένος ὅλον ἀκάνθαις, πλήρη τε ὑλῶν ὄντα τῶν ἀκαθάρτων, ὅς οὐδέποτε ἐν συνειδήσει ἦλθεν, ἀλλ' ἁδεῶς καὶ ἀδιαφόρως ταῖς τῶν ἡδονῶν ἐνέκειτο δυσωδίαις, πράττων ἀπάσας τὰς τῆς σαρκὸς ὀρέξεις, καὶ μηδὲν ὅλως περὶ ψυχῆς φροντίζων, ἔχων τε τὸ φρόνημα σαρκικὸν ἂπαν· εἶθ' οὔτω φθασεὶς, ἐκδημήσει τοῦ βίου, τούτῳ παντελῶς οὐδεὶς ὀρέξει χεῖρα· ἀλλ' οὔτω πάντα τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν διαπρεχθήσεται, ὡς μήτε ὑπὸ συνεύνου, ἢ τέκνων, ἢ ἀδελφῶν, ἢ συγγενῶν, ἢ φίλων ἐπικουρηθῆναι τὸ σύνολον· ὅτι μηδὲ ἔχει Θεὸς ἐν μέτρῳ τοῦτον.

Ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος, Τὸ Κατὰ Λουκαν Ἐπαγγελιον

Source: Migne PG 26.1041d-1404a
To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until it leavened the whole batch. 1

See this, then, as everyone who on account of controversial speech is as a one who possesses a little leaven of virtue, which is not yet useful for the making of bread, which he has wished to do, but was not able to do, whether because of sluggishness, or because of carelessness, or because of laziness, or on account of procastination, and then he is taken and sent off at a time he did not expect to that righteous judgement where nothing is neglected. But after his death God stirs up his household and rouses relatives, and directs their minds, draws out their hearts, and inclines their souls, that they turn to his aid and help. So these with their hearts moved by the Lord, would supply what is lacking to the dead man. But he who has spent his life in wickedness, embroiled in thorns, his mind full of filthy matters, who never took thought of what is to come, but without fear and quite indifferently wallowed in vile pleasures, acting in all things according to the flesh, having no thought for his soul, but only for all bodily things, when, then, he is taken and leaves this life, nothing at all will he have to offer in the hand, and thus with him it will be that he shall have the help of neither wife, nor children, nor kin, nor any relation or friend, for God shall have no care for him.

Saint Athanasius, On the Gospel of St Luke, Fragment

1 Lk 13.20-21

17 Nov 2022

Scandal And Hell

Si autem manus tua, vel pes tuus scandalizat te; abscinde eum, et proiice abs te: bonum tibi est ad vitam ingredi debilem, vel claudum, quam duas manibus, vel duos pedes habentem mitti in ignem aeternum. Et si oculus tuus scandalizat te, erue eum, et proiice abs te: bonum est tibi cum uno oculo in vitam ad intare quam duos oculos habentem mitti in gehennam ignis.

Docet vitare scandalum passiuum: primo in membris operantibus, et secundo in oculo, qui ordinat et dirigit in opere. Membra autem operantia duo sunt; unum operans generaliter opera, et alterum supportans totum pondus: et illa ponit simul. Et manus quidem significat operantem et auxilliantem amicum, qui vel dando, vel auxiliando, vel operando tenet nos sicut manus: et pes supportantem infirmitatem et pondus significat: et hoc est, quod dicit

Scandalizat te...

Dat tibi causam offendiculi. Pedes eorum ad malum currunt, et festinant, et effundant innoxium sanguinem. Manus vestrae sanguine plenae sunt.

Abscinde...

Duo dicit: abiicete scandalizantem primo iubet, et postea ostendit utilitatem. Abiicitur autem dupliciter: et ideo dicit 'Abscinde eum' ab affectu, in quo haeret glutino amoris.

Et poiice abs te...

Exterioris societatis conversatione. Recedite a tabernaculis hominum impiorum etc. Recedite, recedite: pollutum nolite tangere. A carnibus tuis abscinde illam, ne te abutatur. Noli esse amicus homini iracundo, ne forte discas semitas eius, et sumas scandalum animae tuae.

Bonum est tibi ad vitam ingredi...

Tangit utilitatem: et est hoc solum bonum hominis, quod ad vitam ingrediatur, sicut patuit. Quid enim prodest homini, si mundum universum lucretur, animae vero suae deterimentum patiatur.

Debilem...

Manibus, quando tibi non sufficis, et auxiliatorem dimittis. Ecce non est auxilium mihi in me et necessarii quoque mei recesserunt a me.

Vel claudum...

Iacob claudicans accepit promissionem, quando noluit sulciri confortatione mali fatris. Miphiboseth claudus utroque pede comedebat de mensa Regis.

Et si oculus tuus...

Hoc est, qui dirigit te concilio, et providentia vel doctrina sicut oculus. Oculus sui caeco, et pes claudo

Scandilzat te.

Oculus meus depraedatus est animam meam in cunctis filiabus urbis meae. Oculum, qui subsannat patrum, et despicit partum matris suae etc

Erue eum...

Ab affectu. Erue me ab his, qui persequuntur me. Erue me de manu fratris mei: quia valde eum timeo.

Et proiice abs te...

Longe. Odivi ecclesiam malignantium: et cum impiis non sedebo.

Bonum est tibi cum uno oculo in vitam ad intare quam duos oculos habentem mitti in gehennam ignis...

Hoc est, cum dimidio lumine; et hoc est, quando retines lumen conscientiae, et amittis lumen seculare. Cum sedero in tenebris, Dominus lux mea est. Oculi impiorum deficient.

Mitti in gehenna.

Hoc do aliis etiam dictum est: quia tamen oculi ibi in tenebris plorant, et pedes et manus ligati sunt. Proiicientur in tenebras exteriores: ibi erit fletus et stridor dentium. Et de manibus et pedibus: ligaris manibus et pedibus proiicite eum in tenebras exteriores. Vermis eorum non morietur et ignis eorum non extinguetur.

Sanctus Albertus Magnus, Commentarium in Mattheum, Caput XVIII



Source: Here, p320





If your hand or your foot scandalises you, cut it off, and cast it from you; it is better for you to enter into life maimed or lame, than have two hands or two feet and be cast into hell. And if your eye scandalises you, pluck it out, and cast it from you; it is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to be sent into the hell of fire with two. 1

This teaches one to avoid the scandal of the passions, first in the working of members and second by the eye, which commands and directs the work. The working members are two, one working in general and the other supporting the whole weight, and they are set here together. The hand signifies the work and the assitance of a friend, one who either in giving, or aiding, or working, is held as a hand to us. And the foot is the supporter of weakness and weight. And with this which He says,

'If it scandalises you...'

He gives the cause of the offence. 'Their feet run to evil, there they hasten, and they pour out innocent blood.' 2 'Your hands are full of blood.' 3

'Cut if off...'

He speaks of two things: first He commands you to cast off the one who causes scandal and after He shows the usefulness of this. To cast off is twofold: and therefore He says 'cut it off' from affection, by which there is adherence by the bond of love.

'And cast it from you...'

From associating with in exterior society. 'Withdraw from the dwelling places of impious men.' 4 'Withdraw, withdraw, do not touch that which is defiled.' 5 'From your flesh cut her off, lest she ruin you.' 6 'Do not be the friend of an irascible man, let perhaps you learn from his ways, and receive scandal for your soul.' 7

'It is better for you to enter into life...'

He touches on the usefulness of this. It is the one good of man, that he enter into life, as He has made clear: 'What does it profit it a man if he gain the whole world and suffers the loss of his soul?' 8

'Maimed...'

As regards the hands, when they are not enough for you, and you dismiss your helper. 'Behold, there is no help for me from myself and what is needful withdraws from me.' 9

'Or lame...'

Jacob when lame received the promise, when he was unwilling to be supported by the strength of an evil brother. 10 Miphiboseth who was lame in both feet dined at the table of the king. 11

And if your eye...

That is, one who directs with counsel, and foresight and teaching is like the eye. 'I was an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame.' 12

'It scandalises you...'

'My eye has grieved my soul because of all the maidens of my city.' 13 The eye which scorns the father and despises the womb of the mother...' 14

'Pluck it out...'

From affection. 'Seize me from them who persecute me.' 15 'Seize me from the hand of my brother whom I fear so much.' 16

'And cast it from you...'

Far away. 'I hate the gathering of the wicked and with the impious I will not sit.' 17

'It is better for you to enter to into life with one eye, rather than to be sent into the hell of fire with two.'

That is, when you have half light, when you retain the light of conscience and lose the light of the world. 'When I shall sit in darkness, the Lord is my light.' 18 'The eyes of the impious perish' 19

'Sent into the hell...'

He has said He gives this to others, that there eyes weep in darkness and the feet and the hands have been bound. They are cast out into the darkness outside where there is a weeping and grinding of teeth. And concerning the hands and feet: 'Bind his hands and feet and cast him into the darkness outside.' 20 'Their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched.' 21

Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 18

1 Mt 18.8-9
2 Prov 1.16
3 Isaiah 1.15
4 Numb 16.26
5 Isaiah 52.11
6 Sirach 25.36
7 Prov 22.24-25
8 Mt 16.26
9 Job 6.13
10 Genes 32
11 2 King 9
12 Job 29.15
13 Lament 3.51
14 Prov 30.11
15 Jerem 15.15
16 Genes 32.11
17 Ps 25.5
18 Mich 7.8
19 Job 11.20
20 Mt 22.13
21 Isaiah 66.24

16 Nov 2022

Contemplating Future States

Expedit igitur unicuique, priusquam praesentem finiat vitam, futuri supplicii timore converti, si vere non vult post hujus vitae finem sine fine torqueri. Quapropter inaniter in conspectu Dei malorum hominum permanens iniquitas remittenda creditur, in cujus conspectu inulta esse bonorum operum sterilitas non sinetur. Neque enim dicitur quisquam positus ad sinistram idcirco iturus in ignem aeternum, quia panem comedenti abstulit, sed quia esurienti non dedit; nec quia vestitum exspoliavit, sed quia vestimenta non tribuit; nec quia de domo propria quemquam pepulit, sed quia unum ex Christi minimis hospitio non recepit. Si ergo ibit in combustionem aeternam qui panem suum esurienti non dedit, quid recipiet qui alienum abstulit panem? Et si mittetur in stagnum ignis et sulphuris qui nudum vestimento non tegit, quis passurus est qui vestimeno crudelis expoliat? Et si rerum suarum avarus possessor requiem non habebit, quomodo alienarum rerum insatiabilis raptor, si in hac vita converti noluerit, postmodum sibi de judice justo indulgentiam frustra promittit? Consideremus divitem miserum purpura quondam byssoque vestitum, non ob aluid inexstinguibilibus flammis ardentem, nisi quia Lazaro pauperi continua esurie laboranti nunquam voluit saltem micas convivii sui mortifera praeditus iniquitate largari. Qui cum interminabili cruciamento damnatus, etiam digiti pauperis in aeterna requie laetantis refrigerio remaneret indignus, evidenti responsione Abraham patriarcha monstravit post hanc vitam, nec bonos posse ad iniquos aliquatenus transmeare, nec malos a poenis ad beatorum requiem posse quandoque transire. Sic enim dicit: Fili, recordare quia recepisti bona in vita tua, et Lazarus similiter mala. Nunc autem hic consolatur, tu vero cruciaris. Et in omnibus inter nos et vos chaos magnum firmatum est, ut hinc qui volunt transire ad vos, non possint, neque huc inde transmeare.

Sanctus Fulgentius Ruspensis, De Remissione Peccatorum, Lib II Caput XIV

Source: Migne 65.565a-c
It thus profits everyone before the end of this present life to contemplate with fear future punishment, if truly after the end of this life one has no wish for endless torment. Whence it is foolish in the sight of God to believe that the remaining inquity of evil men must be forgiven, in that sight in which it is not permitted that a sterility of good works shall go unpunished. For it is not said that whoever is placed on the left side will go into eternal fire because he took bread for eating, but because he did not give to the hungry, not because he stole clothes but because he did not give them, not because he expelled his own from his house, but because he did not receive as a guest one of Christ's little ones. If therefore he shall go to eternal burning who did not give his own bread to the hungry, what shall he receive who takes another man's bread? And if he who does not cover the naked with clothes shall go into the lake of fire and sulphur, shall that cruel man who strips clothing from another be spared? And if an avaricious possessor of his own goods shall have no rest, how shall the insatiable seizer of the goods of another, if in this life he will not be converted, if he is vainly promised that after he shall have forgiveness from the just judge? Consider that wretched wealthy man in his purple and fine linen garments, that nothing availed against the burning and inextinguishable flame, unless the poor man Lazarus, who had ever laboured in want, to whom he never wished to give crumbs from his table, bound in his fatal iniquity. He who when damned to endless torments was indeed unworthy of the finger of the happy poor man in his rest. And the answer of the patriarch Abraham plainly showed that after this life it is impossible for the good to pass over to the wicked, and nor shall the wicked at any time cross over to the rest of the blessed. He says: 'O son, remember that you received good things in your life, and Lazarus likewise evil. Now he is comforted and you are tormented. In all this, between us and you, a great gulf has been set, that he who wishes to pass from here to you is not able, nor is it possible that anyone pass from there to here.' 1

Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, On the Forgiveness of Sins, Book 2, Chap 14

1 Lk 16.25-26

15 Nov 2022

Saints And Damnation

Quomodo fugietis a judicio gehennae?

Numquid sepulcra sanctorum aedificantes, an potius a malitia corda vestra mundates; numquid sic judicat Deus, quomodo judicat homo? Homo hominem judicat in opere, Deus autem in corde. Quae est autem ista justitia sanctos colere, et contemnere sanctitatem? Primus gradus est pietatis sanctitaem diligere, deinde sanctos, quia non sancti ante sanctitatem fuerunt, sed sanctitas ante sanctos. Sine causa ergo justos honorat, qui justitiam spernit. Quomodo fugietis? Nunquid liberabunt vos sancti, quorum monumenta ornatis? Non possunt sancti amici esse illorum, quibus Deus est inimicus

Rabanus Maurus, Commentariorum In Matthaeum, Liber VII

Source: Migne PL 107.1073b-c
How shall you escape from being sentenced to hell? 1

Are you builders of the tombs of the holy rather than cleansers of your hearts of wickedness? Does God judge as man judges? A man judges a man by his work, God judges the heart. Where is the righteousness in revering the saints and scorning sanctity? The first step of piety is to love holiness, then the saints, because they are no saints before sanctity, but sanctity comes before the saints. Without sense, then, do you honour the righteous, you who scorn righteousness. How shall you escape? Shall the saints free you because you adorn their tombs? Those who are  holy cannot be a friend of those to whom God is an enemy. 2

Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 7

1 Mt 23.33
2 cf Opus Imperfectum, Hom xlv Migne PG 56.889

14 Nov 2022

Separation Here And There

Ne simul perdas cum impiis animam meam, et cum viris sanguinum vitam meam.

Juste roget ne cum impiis anima ejus pereat in futuro judicio, cum quibus hic communem non habuit actionem. Mertio enim ab eis ibi se sequestrari petiit, a quibus hic se ipse divisit. Sanguinum enim viri sunt, qui carnaliter vivunt, et nulla jussa coelestia concupiscunt. Pereunt ergo tales de futura Jersulaem, qui pro sua impietate damnandi sunt.

Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus XXV

Source: Migne PL 70.185c-d
Do not destroy my soul at the same time with the impious, my life with men of blood. 1

Justly he pleads that his soul not perish with the impious in future judgment, with whom he has no deed in common here. For rightly he seeks to separate himself from them there, from whom he has separated himself here. For the men of blood are those who live carnally, and wish for no command of heaven. Such perish from the future Jerusalem, they who are damned by their own impiety.

Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, Psalm 25

1 Ps 25.9

13 Nov 2022

The Fate Of The Fruitless

Quest V.

Quaeritur de hoc quod dicit: Pater tollet omnem palmitem non ferentem fructum.

Aut tollet de vite, aut tollet de vita. De vite, non, quia nullum Pater a Filio suo separat; aut si tollit, quomodo tollit de vite? Quia qui non operatur bonum hoc ipso separatus est a vite, Christo, quia gratiam non habet, immo perdit. Si de vita; istud falsum est, quia plus vivunt mali quam boni, ut videmus. Item, bonos etiam tollit de vita corporal sicut malos.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod palmites a Christo trahunt non vitam naturae, sed vitam gratiae et vitam gloriae. Dicitur auferri vel separari palmes ab hac vite non per mortem naturae, sed per mortem culpae, vel damnationis extremae. Unde palmites infructuosi et qui in vacuum gratiam Dei recipiunt a vite separantur merito suae culpae iudicio divinae iustitiae; unde Apocalypsis tertio: Quia tepidus es, incipiam te evomere; quia iusto iudicio gratiam non apponit eis Deus. Iudicio damnationis extremae tollentur et in ignem mittentur, quando tempus merendi praecluditur; unde dicit: tollet, non quia statim auferat, cum locum poenitendi tribuat.

Sanctus Bonaventura, Commentarius In Evangelium Ioannem, Caput XV

Source: Here, p450
Question 5.

Let this which He said be considered: 'The Father will take away every branch of the vine that does not bear fruit.' 1

Either he will take away from the vine, or from life. Concerning the vine, not so, because the Father separates no one from His Son; or if He does take away, how does He take away from the vine? Because He who does not do good is separated from the vine, from Christ, since he has no grace, rather he perishes. If He takes away from life, this is false, because there are more evil men than good men, as we see. Likewise, He takes the good away from the corporeal life just like the wicked.

I answer: It must be said that the branches taken from Christ are not taken from the natural life, but from the life of grace and the life of glory. It is said that to carry off or to separate the branches from the vine is not natural death, but death by sin, or final damnation. Whence those who are unfruitful branches and who receive the grace of God for barreness are rightly separated from the vine because of their own fault, by the judgement of Divine justice. Whence in the third chapter of the Apocalypse: 'Because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth,' 2 since with just judgement God grants no grace to them. By the judgement of final damnation they will be taken away and cast into fire, when comes the time when merit can be gained is ended. Whence he says: 'He will take away,' because He does immediately carry off, since a span for penance is given.

Saint Bonaventura, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint John, Chapter 15

1 Jn 15.2
2 Apoc 13.16

12 Nov 2022

Death And The Commandments

Ἔλεγον περὶ τοῦ ἀββᾶ Ἰσαὰκ, ὅτι μέλλοντος αὐτοῦ τελευτᾷν, συνῆλθον πρὸς αὐτὸν οἱ γέροντες, καὶ ἔλεγον· Τί ποιήσομεν μετὰ σὲ, Πάτερ; Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· Ἴδετε πῶς ἐπορεύθεν ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν· ἐὰν θέλητε καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀκολουθῆσαι, καὶ φυλάξαι τὰς ἐντολάς τοῦ Θεοῦ, πέμπει τὴν χάριν αὐτοῦ, καὶ φυλάσσει τὸν τόπον τοῦτον. Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ φυλάξητε, οὐ μὴ μείνητε ἐν τῷ τόπῳ. Καὶ ἡμεῖς γὰρ ὅταν ἤμελλον ἀποθανεῖν οἱ Πατέρες ἡμῶν, ἐλυπούμεθα· ἀλλα τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ αὐτῶν τὰς παραγγελίας τηροῦντες, ἐστήκαμεν, ὡς αὐτῶν ὄντων μεθ' ἡμῶν. Οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς ποιήσατε, καὶ σώζεσθε.

Ἀποφθέγματα Των Ἁγίων Γερόντων, Παλλαδιος

Source: Migne PG 65.225d-228a
They said about father Isaac that when he was at the point of death the old men gathered to him, and said, 'What shall we do without you, father?' He said to them, 'See how I have walked before you. If you wish to follow me and guard the commandments of God, He will send his grace and protect this place. But if you do not guard His commandments, you cannot remain in this place. For we, when our fathers were dying, were full of grief, but, keeping the Lord's commandments and their admonitions, we have stood fast as though they were with us. Do likewise and you will be saved.'

Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

11 Nov 2022

Understanding And Life

Ὁδοὶ ζωῆς διανοήματα συνετοῦ ἵνα ἐκκλίνας ἐκ τοῦ ᾅδου σωθῇ

Ὁ δὲ συνετὸς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ᾅδου τοῦ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, ὁδοὶ ζωῆς, διανοήματα θείων λόγων καὶ ἔργων· ὁ δὲ συνετὸς ἀεὶ ταῦτα ποιεῖ καὶ διδάσκει, ἵνα σὺν τοῖς μαθητιῶσιν ἐκκλίνας ἐκ τοῦ ᾅδου σωθᾗ.

Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Παροιμίας, Κεφ ΚΗ'

Source: Migne PG 17.193c
The thoughts of a man of understanding are the ways of life, that turning from hell he might be saved. 1

The man of understanding is not in the hell of sinners. The ways of life are meditations on the Divine words and works. And the wise man always does and teaches these things, so that with his pupils, turning from hell, he might be saved.

Origen, On Proverbs

1 Prov 15.24

10 Nov 2022

The Testimony Of Death

Illud quoque egregium, quod ait Scriptura: Ante mortem non laudaveris quemquam. Unusquisque enim in novissimis suis cognoscitur, et in filiis suis aestimatur, si bene filios suos instituit, et disciplinis competentibus erudivit. Siquidem ad negligentiam patris refertur dissolutio filiorum. Tum quia unusquisque, quandiu vivit, obnoxius est lapsui, nec senectus immunis a crimine; ideo legis quia Abraham mortuus est in senectute bona, eo quod in bonitate propositi sui permansit. Mors igitur vitae est testimonium. Nam si laudari ante gubernator non potest, quam in portum navem deduxerit, quomodo laudabis hominem, priusquam in stationem mortis successerit? Et ipse sui est gubernator, et ipse vitae hujus jactatur profundo, quandiu in salo isto, tandiu inter naufragia. Dux ipse nisi confecto praelio non sumit lauream, nec miles arma deponit, nec stipendii mercedem adipiscitur, nisi hoste superato. Mors igitur stipendiorum plenitudo, summa mercedis, gratia missionis est.

Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Bono Mortis, Caput VIII

Source: Migne PL 14.556b-c
That is also excellent which Scripture says: 'You shall not praise any man before his death.' 1 Any man is known by his last days, and he is judged by his offspring, if he has raised good sons, and educated them sufficiently in studies. Indeed wayward children are referred to the negligence of the father. So as anyone while he lives is liable to fall, nor is an old man immune from error,  thus you read that 'Abraham died in good old age.' 2 by which it is asserted that he remained in a good state. Death, therefore, is a testimony of life. For if it is not possible to praise a pilot before he leads the ship into port, how will you praise a man before he has arrived at the resting place of death? He is the pilot of his own life cast out on the deep, where there will be plain sailing and where there will be shipwrecks. A general, unless he is victorious in battle, does not receive laurels, nor does a soldier put down his arms or obtain the reward of his pay until the enemy is conquered. Therefore death is the fullness of pay, the consummation of reward, the joy of discharge after service.

Saint Ambrose, On the Good of Death, Chap 8

1 Sirach 11.28
2 Gen 25.8

9 Nov 2022

Job And The Resurrection

Ἐὰν γὰρ ἄνθρωπος καταβῇ εἰς ᾅδην οὐκέτι μὴ ἀναβῇ, οὐd' οὐ μὴ ἐπιστρέψῃ ἔτι εἰς τὸν ἴδιον οἶκον οὐδὲ μὴ ἐπιγνῷ αὐτὸν ἔτι ὁ τόπος αὐτοῦ.

Τινὲς δέ φασιν, ὅτι οὐ παραινούμενος τὴν ἀνάστασιν, τοῦτο λέγει· ἀλλὰ πρῶτον μὲν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπίκηρον δεικνύς· ἔπειτα, ὅτι ὁ ἅπαξ ἀποθανὼν, εἰς τόνδε τὸν φθαρτὸν βίον οὐχ ὑποστρέψει, οὐδὲ τὰ συνήθη πράττων ἐπιγνωσθήσεται· ὥστε τῷ. Οὐκέτι οὐ μὴ ἀναβῇ ἐξ ᾅδου, συναπτέον τὸ, Εἰς τὸν ἴδιον οἴκον οὐκ ἐπιστρέψῇ· ἵνα εἴπῃ, ὅτι Ἀναβιώσεται μὲν, οὐ μὴν εἰς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ οἴκον ἐπιστρέψει. Ἀλλ' αὕτη μὲν ἡ ἑρμηνεία πιθανὴ, ἀληθεστέρα δὲ ἡ προτέρα, ὅτι ἠγνόει τὰ περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ὁ δίκαιος· ὅθεν καὶ πλέον ἐστὶ θαυμαστὸς, ὅτι μηδὲν τοιοῦτον ἐλπίζων, οὕτω τὴν ἄκραν ἀρετὴν κατώρθωσεν.

Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Τον Ιὠβ

Source: Migne PG 39.1140b
For if a man goes down to hell, he shall not rise again, nor shall he return anymore to his own house, nor shall he know where his place is. 1

Some say that Job spoke like this because he does not admit the resurrection. First he reveals the fragility of men and then that once a man has died he does not return to this corruptible life, nor to his customary occupations. The words, 'He does not rise from hell,' must be connected with 'he does not return to his own house,' as if he had said, 'Certainly he may revive, but he does not return to his own house.' This is a possible interpretation, yet the former may be more true, that the righteous Job was ignorant of the resurrection of the dead and therefore he is more worthy of admiration that, not even hoping for such a thing, he showed such virtue in everything.

Didymus the Blind, On Job, Fragment

1 Job 7.9-10

8 Nov 2022

Liberation From Death

Τίς ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὃς ζήσεται καὶ οὐκ ὄψεται θάνατον;

Ἀληθὲς οὖν ὅτι οὐ ματαίως ἔκτισας τοὺς υιοὺς ἀνθρώπων· μαρτυρήσει καὶ αὐτὴ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ φήσις· ἀπεθάνομεν ἐν Ἀδὰμ, ἀλλ' ἐζήσαμεν ἐν Χριστῷ

Ποῦ ἐστιν τὰ ἐλέη σου τὰ ἀρχαῖα;

Ἀρχαῖα ἐλέη τοῦ Θεοῦ φησιν, ἡ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου ὡρισμένη, εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ἀναστοιχείωσις

Οὖ ὑπέσχον ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ μου πολλῶν ἐθνῶν

Δεχομεθα γάρ πως εἰς κόλπους τὰ δῶρα ὅταν προσφέρουσι τινες. Μνησθῆναι δὲ παρακαλοῦσι Θεὸν τῆς ὑποσχέσεως δοθείσης ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ πολλῶν ἐθνῶν. Τί γὰρ ὑπέσχετο τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὁ Σωτήρ; ἁμαρτίας ἄφεσιν, θανάτου λύσιν, σωτηρίαν καὶ ζωήν.

Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Εἰς Τους Ψαλμους, Ψαλμός ΠΗ'

Souce: Migne PG 69.1216d-1217a
'Who is the man who shall live and not see death?' 1

Truly, then, that the sons of men are not made in vain, the very nature of events give witness, for we died in Adam, in Christ we were revived.

Where are your mercies of old?2

The old mercy of God that he speaks of was established before the foundation of the world, for the restoration of immortality

That I bear in my lap the many nations. 3

For when someone gives gifts we receive them in the lap. Here God is asked that He remember His promise which brought many nations into the lap. And what did the Saviour promise to the nations? Forgiveness of sins, liberation from death, salvation and life.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 88

1 Ps 88. 49
2 Ps 88. 50
3 Ps 88. 51

7 Nov 2022

Death And Hope

ΕΡΩΤ ΛΗ'

Τίνος ἕνεκα τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰρηκότος, ᾗ δ' ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου, θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ, οὐκ εὐθὺς ἀπέθανε τὴν ἐντολὴν παραβάς;

Ἐναντία αὕτη κατηγορία. Πρὸ βραχέος γὰρ ἀπηνῆ τὸν Θεὸν ἀποκαλοῦντες, νῦν αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν κατηγορεῖτε. Ὑμεὶν δὲ μᾶλλον ἐρχῆν, ἀλλ' οὐ κατηγορεῖν τῆς ἀγαθότητος τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἴωθε γὰρ μείζονα μὲν ἀπειλεῖν ἐλάττους δὲ τῶν ἀπειλῶν τὰς τιμωρίας ἐπάγειν. Καὶ τοῦτο πολλαχῆ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν παρὰ τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ. Ἐνταῦθα μέντοι τὸν τῆς θνητότηος ὅρον ὠνόμασε θάνατον· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσεν· Ἧ δ' ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου, θνητὸς ἔσῃ. Μετὰ γὰρ δὴ τὴν θείαν ἀπόφασιν, καθ' ἐκάστην, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, ἡμέραν τὸν θάνατον προσεδέχετο· οὕτως οἱ πεπιστευκότες τῷ Δεσπότῃ Χριστῷ, καὶ σφαττόμενοι ζῶσι, προσμένοντες τὴν ἀνάστασιν, καὶ τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν. Τῇ γὰρ ἐλπίδι ἐσώθημεν.

Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Εἰς Τὴν Γένεσιν

Source: Migne PG 80.138c
Question 38

How when God had said, 'On whatever day you eat for this tree, you will die the death,' 1 did the man not instantly die, having transgressed the commandment?

This is a contrary accusation. For a little while ago you called God cruel and now you reprove Him because of His benevolence. But it befits to praise Him for His goodness rather than accuse Him. He is accustomed to threaten grave things but to inflict as punishment less that what was threatened. This is often found in Holy Scripture. Here, then, the sentence of mortality is what He calls death. For so Symmachus translates it in this manner: 'On whatever day you eat from this tree, you will be mortal.' Thus after the divine sentence, as man expects death every single day, so those who believed in Christ the Lord, live even when they are slain, waiting for the resurrection, and the kingdom of heaven. 'For by hope we have been saved.' 2

Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Questions On Genesis

1 Genes 2.17
2 Rom 8.24

6 Nov 2022

Persecutions And Death

Διώγμὸς δὲ ὁ μέν τις ἔξεωεν περιγίνεται, τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἤ δι' ἔχθραν, ἤ διὰ φθόνον, ἤ διὰ φιλοκέρδειαν, ἤ κατ' ἑνέργειαν διαβολικὴν τοὺς πιστοὺς ἑλαυνόντων· ὁ δὲ χαλεπώτατος ἔνδοθέν ἐστι διωθγμὸς, ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐκάστῳ τῆς ψυχῆς προπεμπόμενος, λυμαινομένης ὑπὸ ἐπιθυμιῶν ἀθέων καὶ ἡδονῶν ποικίλων καὶ φαύλων ἐλπίδων καὶ φθαρτῶν ὀνειροπολημάτων· ὅταν ἀεὶ τῶν πλειόνων ὀρεγομένη, καὶ λυσσῶσα ὑπὸ ἀγρίων ἐρώτων, καὶ φλεγομένη καθάπερ κέντροις ἤ μύωψι τοῖς προκειμένοις αὐτῇ πάθεσιν, ἐξαιμάσσηται πρὸς σπουδὰς μανιώδεις καὶ ζωῆς ἀπόγνωσιν καὶ Θεοῦ καταφρόνησιν. Οὕτος ὁ διωγμὸς βαρύτερος καὶ χαλεπώτερος, ἔνδοθεν ὁρμώμενος, ἀεὶ συνὼν, ὄν οὐδὲ ἐκφυγεῖν ὁ διωκόμενος δύναται· τὸν γὰρ ἐχθρὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιαγει πανταχοῦ. Οὕτω καὶ πύρωσις, ἡ μὲν ἔξωθεν προσπίπτουσα δοκιμασίαν κατεργάζεταιἡ ἡ δὲ ἔνδοθέν θάνατον διαπραττεται.

Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Τις Ὁ Σώζομενος Πλούσιος


Source: Migne PG 9.629b-c
There is a persecution that comes from outside, from men who assail the faithful, because of hatred, or envy, or avarice, or through diabolic agency. But the most grievous is the persecution that comes from within, which proceeds from each man's soul, when it is vexed by unholy desires and shifting pleasures and vile hopes and ruinous dreams, when always desiring more and maddened by brutish loves and inflamed by the passions that strike it like goads and stings, soaked in blood, it rushes to insane pursuits and to despair of life and to contempt of God. This persecution is more grievous and painful, which arises from within, which is ever with a man and which the persecuted cannot escape, for a man carries the enemy about everywhere in himself. Thus the burning which comes from persecution from outside works proof, but that from within accomplishes death.

Clement of Alexandria, Who Is The Rich Man That Shall Be Saved?

5 Nov 2022

The Gates Of Death

Misere mei, Domine, vide humilitatem meam de inimicis meis, qui exaltas me de portis mortis.

Ista est oratio cunctorum pauperum ad singularem numerum competenter adducta, quia semper in unitatem sanctorum haec turba perducitur. Sic enim sibi postulat subveniri, ut a clementissimo Rege videatur: quia revera conspectus ejus auxilium est, et tenebrosa protinus dispereunt, cum se tanti luminis serena concedunt. Humilitatem igitur suam de inimicorum superia supplicat aestimari, quia tantum carnaliter humiliantur martyres Christi, quantum persecutores eorum temporaliter videntur extolli. Porta, vero, mortis est diabolus, vel omnis illecebra saecularis: quoniam per haec ad aeternum exitium infeliciter introitur. Exaltas me, dicit, id est, longe facis a talibus. Nam cum porta mortis sit conversatio scelerata multorum, jure se ab ea dicit exaltatum: quia praeceptis vitalibus adhaerebat.

Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus IX

Source: Migne PL 70.83d-84a
Be merciful to me, O Lord, look on my lowliness before my enemies, you who lift me up from the gates of death. 1

This is the prayer of all the poor fittingly attributed to single one of their number, because this multitude is ever led to the unity of the saints. So, then, he asks that aid come to him, that it appear from the most merciful King, because truly His look is help and the darkness swiftly perishes when He bestows the serenity of such light. So he prays that his humility might be judged against the pride of his enemies, because as much as the martyrs of Christ are humble in the flesh, so their temporal persecutors evidently exult in it. But the gates of death are the devil, or every snare of the world, because by these we woefully enter into eternal exile. 'You lift me up,' he says, that is, you take me far from such things. For when the gate of death is the wicked conduct of many, he rightly says he is exalted above them, because he adheres to the commandments of life.

Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, Psalm 9

1 Ps 9.13

4 Nov 2022

Death And Salvation

Adjuva me, et salvus ero, et meditabor in justificationibus tuis semper.

Superius dixerat, Adjutor et susceptor meus, nunc autem nominum commemoratorum rem precatur, ut qui susceptor est, suscipiat; et qui adjutor, adjuvet. Non abesse a se adjutorium adjuvantis precatur. Non orat ne malignantes non habeat, quia per passionum patientiam fides probatur: sed ut adversus eos adjuvetur orat, quia auxilium a Domino semper orandum est. Sed quemadmodum in superiore susceptus vivet: ita et in hoc adjutus salvabitur. Adhuc enim sibi obeunda mors est, adhuc inferi sustinendi. Tunc salvabitur, cum ex corporea terranaque natura in spiritalem gloriam transformatus, nullum adversantis inimici periculum metuat, vivat inter electos angelos, sit paradisi incola, et absorpta corruptione ex mortali immortalis exsistat. Sed quod meditaturum se in justiis Dei dicit, et meditaturum semper: numquid non meditatur, qui et in meditatione speravit? Potest quidem et in praesens vitae opus accipi, ut quousque in corpore sit, semper justificationes meditetur: sed nihilominus et in futurum sermo procedit. Scit in coelo omnes angelos in meditatione justificationum Dei esse. Nihil enim illic otiosum, nihil iners est: omnes virtutes coelestes in opere ministerii sui permanent. Et cum nobis tunc vita angelorum vivendum sit; potest secundum eos qui semper operantur, nobis quoque aeterna justificatonum esse meditatio.

Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum CXVIII

Source: Migne PL 9.603b-604a
Help me, and I shall be saved, and I shall contemplate your justifications always. 1

Above he said, 'My helper and my redeemer,' 2 and now he prays for the thing the name commemorates, that He who is the redeemer, redeem, and He who is helper, help. He does not pray that His helper begone, he does not pray that he be spared the wicked, for through suffering the patience of faith is proved, 3 but he prays that he be helped against them, because one must always pray for help from the Lord. But as it was before that he who is redeemed lives, so even with this help he is saved. For as yet death troubles and as yet hell is opposed, but then he shall be saved when from the body and the earthly nature he is transformed into spiritual glory, when he shall not fear any trial of the hostile enemy, when he shall live among the chosen angels, and be a dweller in paradise, living with corrupt mortality absorded by immortality. 4 But because He says that he shall contemplate the justifications of God, and contemplate them always, does he not now contemplate them, he who has hoped in contemplation? 5 It is possible to understand that in the state of this present life that he who is for at time in the body may always meditate on His justifications, but even so the word given here refers to the future. He knows that in heaven all the angels meditate on the justifications of God. For there is nothing useless there, nothing pointless, all the heavenly powers are active in the work of His ministry. And when then we are given to live the life of angels, 6 as they who always active in it, so it is possible for us also that there shall be eternal meditation of His justifications.

Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 118

1 Ps 118.117
2 Ps 118.114
3 Rom 5.3-4
4 1 Cor 15.54
5 Ps 118.24
6 Mt 22.30

3 Nov 2022

Suffering For Heaven

Dominus autem benedixit novissimis Job...

Ex magna nimirum divinae gratiae dispensatione praecessit afflictio, ut post moerorem gaudium, post naufragium portus, post laborem requies, dulcedo post amaritudinem, post persecutiones prosperitas gratius arriderent. Porro ideo super dorsum justi, qui positus est inter malleum et incudem, de permissione divina fabricant peccatores, ut post dies malos, quibus afflictus et humiliatus est, plenior laetitia subsequatur, sicut propheta dicit: Laetati sumus pro diebus quibus nos humiliasti, annis quibus vidimus mala. Juxta Sapientis verbum: Ante ruinam exaltatur cor: et e contrario gloriam praecedit humilitas. Humilitas enim via est ad exaltationem, dolor ad gaudium, persecutio ad felicitatem, ad risum gemitus, mors ad vitam. Flagellat itaque Dominus suos, ne flagellentur in posterum: et temporaliter eos punit, ne aeternaliter puniantur. Legitur in Libro Regum, quia quum Salomon aedificaret templum Domini, lapides omnes extra tunsi fuerunt, ut in aedificatione templi sine sonitu mallei ponerentur. Sancti enim per flagella tunduntur temporaliter, ut in aedificio coelestis Jerusalem, quae aedificatur ut civitas sine flagello disciplinae, sine poenitentiae gemitu caritatis glutino uniantur. In alia siquidem vita inter ardores sempiternos non est locus veniam promerendi, quia in inferno nulla est redemptio; nec homini in peccatis mortuo relinquitur hostia pro peccato.

Petrus Blenensis, Compendium In Job: Ad Henericum II Illustrissimum Anglorum Regem, Caput XLII

Source:  Migne PL 207.823b-d
The Lord blessed the final days of Job... 1

By the great dispensation of Divine grace affliction comes first, that after grieving there is joy, after shipwreck the haven, after labour rest, after bitterness sweetness, and that after persecution prosperity might shine more pleasantly. Thus it is that with Divine permission sinners labour over the back of the righteous man, who is placed as between the hammer and the anvil, that after evil days, by which he is afflicted and humbled, greater joy shall follow. As the prophet says: 'We rejoiced over the days you humiliated us, the years in which we saw evil.' 2 And according to the word of Wisdom it is said that the heart is exalted before ruin, and on the contrary humility comes before glory. 3 For the way of humility leads to exaltation, grief to joy, persecution to happiness, groans to laughter, death to life. In this way the Lord whips his own, lest they be whipped later. For a time He punishes them, lest they be punished eternally. It is written in the book of Kings that when Solomon built the temple of the Lord every stone was worked on outside, that in the building of the temple, they might be placed together without the sound of the hammer. 4 So the holy are worked on for a time by blows so that in the building of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is built up like a city, 5 there is unity in the bond of charity without the whip of discipline and without the groans of penitence. Indeed in the other life among eternal flames there is no place for the earning of forgiveness, because in hell there is no salvation, nor for a man dead in his sins is there left any space for a sacrifice for sin.

Peter of Blois, Compendium On Job, To Henry II Most Illustrious King Of The English, Chapter 42

1 Job 42.12
2 Ps 89.15
3 Prov 16.18
4 3 Kings 6.7
5 Ps 121.3

2 Nov 2022

Heavenly Bodies

ΕΡΑΝ. Ταῦτα μὲν οὕτω γέγραπται. Ἀλλὰ τὸ σῶμα, μετὰ τὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνάληψιν, οὐκ οἶμαί σε δείξειν ὑπὸ τῶν πνευματοφόρων ἀνδρῶν προσαγορευόμενον σῶμα.

ΟΡΘ. Μάλιστα μὲν καὶ τὰ προειρημένα τοῦ σώματος ὑπάρχει δηλωτικά· τὸ γὰρ ὁρώμενον, σῶμα· δείξω δὲ ὅμως καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάληψιν σῶμα καλούμενον τοῦ δεσπότου τὸ σῶμα. Ἄκουσον τοίνυν τοῦ ἀποστόλου διδάσκοντος· Ἡμῶν γὰρ τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει, ἐξ οὗ καὶ σωτῆρα ἀπεκδεχόμεθα Kύριον Ἰησοῦν, ὃς μετα σχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν, εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸ σύμμορφον τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. Οὐ τοίνυν εἰς ἑτέραν μετα βέβληται φύσιν, ἀλλὰ μεμένηκε σῶμα, θείας μέντοι δόξης πεπληρωμένον καὶ φωτὸς ἐκπέμπον ἀκτῖνας· ἐκείνῳ τὰ τῶν ἁγίων σώματα γενήσεται σύμμορφα. Εἰ δὲ εἰς ἑτέραν ἐκεῖνο μετεβλήθη φύσιν, καὶ τὰ τούτων ὡσαύτως μεταβληθήσεται. Σύμμορφα γὰρ ἐκείνῳ γενήσεται. Εἰ δὲ τὰ τῶν ἁγίων φυλάττει τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς φύσεως, καὶ τὸ δεσποτικὸν ἄρα ὡσαύτως τὴν οἰκείαν οὐσίαν ἀμετάβλητον ἔχει.

ΕΡΑΝ. Ἴσα τοίνυν ἔσται τῷ δεσποτικῷ σώματι τὰ τῶν ἁγίων σώματα;

ΟΡΘ. Τῆς μὲν ἀφθαρσίας καὶ μέντοι καὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας μεθέξει καὶ ταῦτα. Κοινωνήσει δὲ καὶ τῆς δόξης, καθά φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος· Εἴπερ συμπάσχομεν, ἵνα καὶ συνδοξασθῶμεν. Ἐν δέ γε τῇ ποσότητι πολὺ τὸ διάφορον ἔστιν εὑρεῖν, καὶ τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἡλίου πρὸς ἀστέρας, μᾶλλον δὲ ὅσον δεσπότου πρὸς δούλους, καὶ τοῦ φωτίζοντος πρὸς τὸ φωτιζόμενον. Μεταδέδωκε δὲ ὅμως τῶν οἰκείων ὀνομάτων τοῖς δούλοις, καὶ φῶς καλούμενος, φῶς τοὺς ἁγίους ἐκάλεσεν· Υμεῖς, γάρ φησιν, ἐστὲ τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου. Καὶ ἥλιος δικαιοσύνης ὀνομαζόμενος, περὶ τῶν δούλων φησί· Τότε ἐκλάμψουσιν οἱ δίκαιοι ὡς ὁ ἥλιος. Κατὰ τὸ ποιὸν τοίνυν, οὐ κατὰ τὸ ποσόν, σύμμορφα ἔσται τῷ δεσποτικῷ σώματι τῶν ἁγίων τὰ σώματα.

Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἐρανιστής ή Πολύμορφος, Διάλογος Β'

Source: Migne PG 80.165a-c
Eranistes: These things are so written, but I do not think that you will be able to show that the body, after the ascension into heaven, is called 'body' by inspired men.

Orthodoxus: What has been already said indicates the body clearly, for what is seen is a body. But as that may be I will show to you that even after the assumption the body of the Lord is called a body. Hear, then, the teaching of the Apostle: 'For our conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who shall change our humble body that it may be like His glorious body.' 1 It was not, then, changed into some other nature, but remained a body, though full of Divine glory, and sending forth bright beams. The bodies of the saints shall be made like it. But if it was changed into another nature, theirs will be likewise changed, for they shall be made like it. But if the bodies of the saints preserve the character of their nature, so the body of the Lord in like manner keeps its own nature unchanged.

Eranistes: Then it will be that the bodies of the saints are equal with the body of the Lord?

Orthodoxus: They will share in its incorruption and its immortality. And they will partake of its glory, as the Apostle says, 'If we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him.' 2 It is in quantity that the great difference is to be found, and it is as great as between the sun and the stars, or rather as between master and servants, and as between that which gives light and that which receives light. Yet even as He has given a share of His own name to His servants and as He is called Light, He calls His saints light, for 'You,' He says, 'are the light of the world,' 3 And He who is named 'Sun of Righteousness' 4 says of His servants: 'Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun.' 5 Therefore, according to quality, not quantity, shall the bodies of the saints be like the body of the Lord.

Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Eranistes or Polymorphus, Second Dialogue

1 Rom 6.12
2 Rom 8.17
3 Mt 5.14
4 Malachi 4.2
5 Mt 13.43